US-made long-range surveillance radar spotted in Algeria

The Algerian armed forces have taken delivery of at least one US-made long-range air surveillance radar, according to photographs released on social media.

Some online news portals and social media on 5 February have released photo of the Northrop Grumman AN/TPS-78 highly mobile, state-of-the-art radar in Algeria.

The AN/TPS-78 is a long-range S-Band air surveillance radar designed for detection of high-speed and high-altitude targets in challenging environmental conditions.

The AN/TPS-78 phased-array-antenna is 2.5 meters high and 5.5 meters wide. It uses a stacked beam architecture and digital beam forming. to provide superior full-time, full-volume coverage of all targets at any azimuth position.

The stacked beam architecture used in the radar allows for superior performance in ground clutter, rain and chaff. With the ability to simultaneously detect high altitude and low altitude targets in heavy ground and sea clutter, the six full-time beams also provide time energy management to detect targets at all velocities with no dim speeds.

AN/TPS-78 radar

At the time there is no exact information on the procurement of this radar system to Algeria and it is not known in what year the country received this system from the USA.

According to GlobalSecurity.org, the bulk of Algeria’s military equipment is of Soviet origin. But, Algeria has begun diversifying its sources of military material and updating its military forces with new weapons systems. The Algerians are cooperating with the United States in the Global War on Terrorism, and in exchange have requested American weapons systems such as military vehicles, aircraft spare parts, radars, and night vision goggles.

Algeria has been buying American military equipment mostly through direct commercial sales (DCS) since the mid-1980s.